A must read for every person. "I have three visions for India. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world have come and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds from Alexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese, the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us, took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any other nation. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect the freedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. I believe that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when we started the war of independence. It is this freedom that we must protect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one will respect us. My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we have been a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developed nation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. We have 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels are falling. Our achievements are being globally recognized today. Yet we lack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developed nation, self- reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect? I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because I believe that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respect us. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as a military power but also as an economic power. Both must go hand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three great minds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space, Professor Satish Dhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm Prakash, father of nuclear material. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closely and consider this the great opportunity of my life. I see four milestones in my career: Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be the project director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. The one that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role in my life of Scientist. After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part of India's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni met its mission requirements in 1994. The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership in the recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss. The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests and proving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer a developing nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as an Indian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entry structure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very light material called carbon-carbon. One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences visited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so light that he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There were these little girls and boys with heavy metallic calipers weighing over three Kg. each, dragging their feet around. He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these floor reaction Orthosis 300-gram calipers and took them to the orthopedic center.

The children didn't believe their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. Load on their legs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss! Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. • We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan; he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; Otherwise, choice is yours. YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work; the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground Links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Peddler Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU comeback to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else." YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta hai sala main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost." YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU spit paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India? Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues Like those related to women, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? "It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So Who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money. Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I am echoing J.F.Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians...."ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY" Let's do what India needs from us. Forward this mail to each Indian For a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.Thank you Dr. A P J Abdul KalaamHonorable President of INDIA

AVUL PAKIR JAINULABDEEN ABDUL KALAM has come to personally represent to many of his counter part the best aspects of India life . Born in 1931 , the son of little educated boatowner in Rameshwaram , Tamil Nadu , had as unparalled career as a defence scientist , culminating the highest civilian award of Bharat , Bharat Ratna . As chief of the Country dfefense research and development programme , Kalam demonstrated the greta potential and dynamism and innovation that existed in Seemigly moribund research establishmentts . This is the story of the Kalam’s own rise from obscurity and his personal as well as professional struggles , as well as the Story of AGNI, Prithivi , Akash , Trishul and Nag –missiles that have become the house hold names in India and that have raised nation to the level of missile power of interntional reckoning .At the same time as he has helped create India’s awesome weaponry , Kalam has maintained the ascetic rigour of his personal life , working 18 hours a day and practising the Veena . With Characteristic modesty , Kalam ascribes the greatness of his achievement to the influence of his teachers and mentors . He describes the struggle his boyhood and youth , bringing alive everyday life in small town in South India and the inspirational role of educators . He describe the role of visionary Indian Scientists , such as Dr Vikram Sarabhai , and of the creation of a coordinated network of research institutions . This is also a saga of independent India’s struggle for self sufficiency and defensive autonomy –a story as much about the politics , domestic and interntional , as it is about science .

Arun Tiwari worked under Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for over a decade in Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL ) , Hyderabad . He is currently Director , Cardiovas cular Technology Institute , Hyderabad , where he is pursuing Dr Kalam Vison of developing cost –effective medical devices using indegenous defence technology .

Dr Kalam is now professor of Technology and Societal transformation , Anna University , Chennai . He is current presedential Nominee (2002)

This book is being released at a time when India’s Tehnology cal endeavours , to assert its sovereingty and strengthen its security , are questioned by many in the World . Historically , people have always fought among themselves on one issue or another. Prehistorically , battles were fought over food and shelter . With the passage of time , wars were waged over religious and ideological beliefs ; and now the dominanat struggle of sophisticated warefare is for the economic and technological supremacy . Consequently , economic and technological supremacy is equated with political power and world control . A few nations who have grown very strong technologically , over the pact few centuries, have wrested control , for their own purposes . These major powers have become the self proclaimed leaders of new world order . What does a country of billion people like India , so in such a sitution ? We have no other option but to be technologically strong . But , can India be a Leader in the Field of Technology ? My answer is emphatic ‘Yes ‘ . And let me validate my answer by narrating some incidents from my life . When I first began the reminiscences that have gone into this book . I was certain about which of my memories were worth narrating or were of any relevance at all . My child hood is precious to me , but would it be interesting to anyone else? Was it worth the reader’s while , I wondered , to know about the tribulations and how my decisiopn to became a vegeterian was pratly due to my financial constraints as a college student –why should these be of interest to general Public ? In the end , I was convinced that these were relevant , if not for anything else but because they tell something of the story of modern india , as individual destiny and social matrix in which it is embedded cannot be seen germane to include accounts of my frustated attempt to become an Airforce pilot and of how i became , instead of Collector my father dreamed a rocket engineer . Finally , i decided to describe the individuals who had a profound influence on my life . This book is also a way of submission of thanks , there fore , to my parents and immediate family , and to the teachers and preceptors I was Fortunate enough to have had , both as student in my professional life . It is also a tribute to the Unflagging enthusiasm and efforts of my young colleagues who helped to realise our collective dreams . The famous words of Isaac Netwon about standing on the shoulders of giants are valid for every scientist and i certainly owe a great debt of knowledge and inspiration to the distinguish lineage of Indian Scientist , that included Vikram Sarbhai , Satish Dawan and Brahm Prakash . They played a major roles in my life and in the story of Indian Science . I completed sixty years of age on 15 October 1991 . I Had decided to devote my retirement to fulfilling what i saw as my duites in the sphere of social service . Instead , tow things happened simultaneoulsy . First i agreed to continue in government service for another three years and , next , a young colleague , Arun Tiwari requested me to share my reminiscences with him , so that he could record them . He was someone who hd been working in my Laboratory since 1982 , but i never really known him well until the February of 1987 when i visted at the Intensive Coronary Care Unit of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad . He was mere 32 years old , but was fighting valiantly for his life . I asked him if there was anything he wanted me to do for him “ Give Your Blessings Sir “ He said “ So that i may have a longer life and can complete at least one of your projects . “

The young man’s dedication moved me and i prayed for his recovery all night . The Lord answered my pryaers and Tiwari was able to get back to work in a month . He did a excellent job in short space of three years . He then took up the Chronicling my story . Over the last year , he patiently transcribed the bits and pieces of my story and converted them into fluent narrative . He went through my personal library meticulously and selected from among the pieces of poetry those that i had marked while reading , and included them in the text . This story is an account . I hope , not just of my Personal triumphs and tribulations but of the successes and setbacks of the Science establishment in mordern india , struggling to establish itself in the technological forefront . It is a story of national aspiration and of co-operative endeavour . And , as i see it , the saga of India’s Search for scientifc self suffieency and technological competence is a parable for our times .

Each individual creature on this beautiful planet is created by God to Fulfil a particular role . Ehatever i have achieved in life is through his help , and an expression of his Will . He showered his grace on me through some outstandings teachers and collegues , and when i pay tribute to these fine persons , i am merely prasing his glory . All these rockets and missiles are his work through a small person called Kalam , in order to tell the several-million mass of India , to never feel small or helpless . We are born with a divine fire in us . Our effort should should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with glow of its goodness .

The reason why India is now able to proclaim itself as a developed nation is because they have got a visionary leader. Their leader had the capability to instill vision- a sense of direction- in the people. and there is ample of them in APJ Kalam.

So called leaders of Nepal, isn't it time for them to learn something from them? Let's not learn only the Bihari style politics from them.

regards,
sachin
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Smile..... This is the only key that fits in everybody's heart

"Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible."